


who are they to say what the truth is anyway

by bluesandbirds



Series: do you hear the people sing? [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Badass Niki | Nihachu, Dream Smp, Gen, Revolution, Technoblade and Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, The Festival, Tommyinnit needs a hug, Villain Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Wilbur Soot, and also some therapy, i really do not know how to tag this, is canon divergence a thing in minecraft rp?, l'manburg, preferably from Philza, preferably from a licensed therapist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26984458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds
Summary: authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of forceor: the people rise up.
Series: do you hear the people sing? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971895
Comments: 33
Kudos: 519





	who are they to say what the truth is anyway

**Author's Note:**

> the summary is a quote from barbie from toy story 3, john locke mightve said it first idk  
> this is 100% based on "if it's true" from hadestown, i would recommend listening to it as you read for full effect  
> sorry if the formatting is hell to read, i tried something.  
> as always comments, bookmarks, and kudos are appreciated! i enjoy feedback a lot, so if you have like any thoughts at all i would love to read your comment.

If it's true what they say  
If there's nothing to be done  
If it's true that it's too late  
And the place I love is gone

Wilbur is lost. Not in a _stranded-in-the-middle-of-the-forest-Techno-come-help-me way_ , but in a way that can't be solved with the moon and a compass. 

Wilbur is sure that it's over for them. That they lost the election and they lost L'Manburg and there's no coming back from that. He wants to blow it away. To make the place that should have embraced them pay for instead chewing them up and spitting them out.

Tommy doesn't believe that. He can't believe that.

_"I didn't sacrifice my disc for this man to throw it all away."_

He isn't giving up on L'Manburg.

And he isn't giving up on Wilbur either.

Wilbur is lost but not gone. He's forgotten the verse, not the song, but Tommy can guide him back for the chorus.

He calls it _Manburg_ , a freudian slip of his silver tongue, and even then Tommy doesn't let go.

_"What's the point of doing anything if you've lost all hope?"_

Wilbur can't be too far gone. He can't be. Because Tommy has come way too far and bled far too much to be betrayed by another man with nice words and grand plans.

He can do this. Save his brother. Save his friends. Save his home. He's done it before, he'll do it again. 

If it's true what they say  
Is this how the world is?  
To be beaten and betrayed and then be told that nothing changes?  
It'll always be like this?

Tommy hides behind a pillar by the space station at ~~L~~ 'Manburg.

The only benefit to Jschlatt tearing down the walls is that it made it a hell of a lot easier for Tommy to sneak into the area.

He squints against the beacon and lantern lights spread across the grounds. Members of the SMP stand at various booths, playing games and socializing, a picture perfect display of prosperity and unity.

For a second, he hates them. Them, with their lights and prizes as if they hadn't bled on this very land only weeks prior. Them, smiling and cheering as if this wasn't just some puppet show with Schlatt at the strings. For a second, he sees where Wilbur is coming from.

No.

He imagines cheer replaced with bloody shock. Screams and panic instead of music and laughter. Tubbo's celebratory speech turned into a eulogy.

He cannot let that happen.

Wilbur and Technoblade are somewhere around doing final checks on explosives. Dream is surely hiding in the shadows somewhere.

Tommy shivers as he takes a step. There is very likely a bomb underneath his feet right now.

There's something to be said about knowing you're walking through a minefield. It feels like negotiating with Dream. It feels like giving orders to Technoblade. Any second he could just burst into flames and what can he do but accept it.

He slips into the darkness behind a ring reminiscent of the one he built in his fight club. He scans the area for friends and foes.

A hand comes down on his shoulder.

"Well, what do we have here?" Sapnap says with a feral grin.

If it's true what they say  
I'll be on my way

"Let me go!" He kicks out and screeches, not caring that he looks every bit the child they see him as. People turn and gasp as they drag him up past seats to the front of the grandstand.

The goons deposit Tommy at Schlatt's black, polished feet.

"Well, well, looks like the kindergartener got lost on his way to the playground."

Tommy sneers up at the man. "I'm here to help you, dickhead."

"We were doing just fine before you arrived." Schlatt gestures around. "Last I checked you were explicitly _not_ welcome here."

"Everybody needs to evacuate the area now. Wilbur's rigged the place to—"

The President waves a hand dismissively. "Lies. Lies from the child trying to ruin the party he wasn't invited to."

He growls. "I'm not lying. Why won't you just listen to me?"

"Well, Tommy, you aren't exactly the most trustworthy of folk. You've earned the reputation of quite the liar and scammer. This seems pretty in character for little TommyInnit to throw a fit when he doesn't get to be center of attention."

Tommy's hands clench into fists. "Maybe I can't make you listen to me. Maybe I can't make you believe me. But I'm asking you to."

He stares up at Schlatt with his smug grin. Quackity next to him with an uneasy frown. George on the other side, face blank. Sapnap and Punz, twin smirks fixed on their lips.

"If you're all happy here with _Manburg,_ if this—" he spits out with all the venom he can muster "—is the country you want, then I'll go quietly." He looks around at the gathering crowd. He looks to the people he used to admire, used to trust, used to love. "But I don't think it is."

"Now you're asking my own people to turn against me?" Schlatt looks out too. "Anyone who stands with this boy will be found guilty of treason and executed with him. We have no tolerance for traitors here." Cold eyes scan each face in the crowd.

Tommy's shoulders slump.

And the boy turned to go 'cause he thought no one could hear.  
But everybody knows that walls have ears.  
**And the people heard him.**

(If it's true what they say _  
_ What's the purpose of a man?)

_Jack Manifold is there for it all. He watches Niki's kind eyes go hollow. Watches as Fundy turns into something unrecognizable even to himself. Watches Quackity swallow words Jschlatt is uninterested in hearing._

_Tubbo won't look at him._

_He misses Tommy.  
_

_He misses Big T._

_None of the promises Schlatt made compare to racing through the sewers—Tommy in front, Tubbo at his back—feeling like he'll live forever. None of them make up for the devastation in Tommy's voice when he says "_ Jack _?" as he flees from the place they called home._

_He's done watching._

(Just to turn his eyes away?)

_Back at his base, Awesamdude opens a chest, eyes trailing over rows upon rows of enderpearls and golden apples. Clutched in his other hand is an invitation._

(Just to throw up both his hands?)

_Callahan and Alyssa enter the festival, hands linked and crossbows loaded._

(What's the use of his backbone?)

_Vice President is a title that suits Quackity. At least, that's what Schlatt tells him. Never mind that he was supposed to be the President._

_That's just one of many things he's sure got lost in translation along the way._

_Signing the ballot with a determined hand, mind racing with plans and policies._

_Campaigning, promising the future to the people left behind, putting in the work for the good of ~~L~~ 'Manburg._

_Shaking hands with a man with his fingers crossed behind his back._

_He thinks about being the 'fattest ass in the cabinet' and nothing more._

_"Mr. President, this is, uh, so you're sure about all this? Can I—can I have a say in this?"  
"I mean, I'm not gonna care, but you sure can try."_

Schlatt's eyes on him. Looking right through him.

"Quackity, throw the toddler into jail, why don'tcha? We can deal with him after the festivities."

_He thinks about the boy with bright blue eyes who smiled like sunshine when they met. Who cackled with joy and called him "Big Q!" Who didn't care that Quackity was loud and obnoxious because he too wore those titles with pride._

_The office is much quieter now._

(If he never stands upright?)

"No sir," Quackity says, "I don't think I will."

(If he turns his back on everyone   
that he could've stood beside?)

_Eret and Niki pick through the Nether, inhaling sulfur and smoke. Eret swings his pickaxe. Niki's inventory grows a stack of ancient debris._

('Cause the ones who tell the lies  
Are the solemnest to swear)

Schlatt's head whips around. "What did you say to me?" His tone is low and there's a warning in his eyes.

Quackity's throat clicks as he swallows. "I said _no_."

The president gets over his shock quickly, mocking chuckle filling the air. "Look, sweetheart, whatever's making you pissy, we can talk about later. Now, simmer down, you're causing a scene." 

Quackity steps in front of Tommy.

"Now, now, think about what you're doing." He narrows his eyes. "I am not a man you want to cross."

He hears the threat, but Quackity is in too far to care. "This isn't right, Schlatt. Wilbur and Tommy were our friends and you banished them with no reasoning. Now you want to kill the kid for just trying to come home?"

He scoffs. "This is real cute display here, but I am trying to throw a party, so if Snapchat and Georgey-Poo could throw these two traitors in jail then we could get back to the whole shindig."

The vice president is seized by Sapnap who pulls him back away from Schlatt while George goes for the boy on the ground.

Tommy snaps at the man. "Don't fucking touch me."

(And the ones who load the die  
Always say the toss is fair)

_Dream supplies the TNT. He whispers in Wilbur's ears where best to set it, how to maximize the destruction and casualties. It's Wilbur's finger on the trigger and Dream's finger over his._

_His actions shouldn't surprise Tommy. He's been the bad guy since the beginning._

_Despite the madness in his eyes and the gunpowder falling from his fingertips, Wilbur did have a point. Dream wants his enemies destroyed. If they destroy each other, then that's even better for him._

_He shouldn't have believed the words of a man always ten steps ahead, even if he wrote them down all nice and signed them with a fond nickname. He shouldn't have stood next to the man who once shot him with an arrow and trusted him to watch his back._

_Now, aiming a borrowed crossbow at the president he would have followed to the ends of the earth and then at the hesitant ally who gifted it to him in the first place, Tommy pays for it._

(And the ones who deal the cards  
Are the ones who take the tricks)

_It's the day of the festival._

_In all honesty, Tommy hadn't planned for this. For the reality of Wilbur actually packing up TNT and redstone and blowing the place they used to love to hell._

_He'd thought—he'd hoped—that Wilbur would have snapped out of it by now or Tommy would have convinced him to see reason, but it's the morning of and Wilbur is conspicuously absent and there's sprinkles of red dust trailing up the stairs._

_"Hullo? Wilbur? Tommy?"_

Technoblade _. Oh thank god, Techno is back from whatever_ _the fuck he's been doing for the past week._

_"Techno!" Tommy skids across the ravine, crashing into the other man. "Techno! We gotta go! We gotta go! Wilbur's lost his fucking crackers. He's wants to blow it up and Dream's helping himandhe'sgotTNTandhe'sgonnablowup ~~L'~~ Manburgandeverybodytherewegottahurry—"_

_"Calm down." Techno's hands clamp down on his shoulders. "Who's doing what now?"_

_"Wilbur's gonna to blow up the festival. Everyone's going to be there. Tubbo, Niki, Jack. He's going to kill all of them."_

_Techno sighs. "Tommy, come with me."_

_But Tommy knows his brother and the look in his eyes is not one that says_ safe _, but instead_ prey _._

_"_ _No," he says, wrenching himself out of Techno's grip, stumbling away from the man. "No, no, no. Not you too," he groans, "Techno, please I can't—"_ _He scrambles backwards, nearly tripping over rocks and cracks, hands up as if that will stop the god when he's out for blood._ _"_ _I can't do this alone."_

(With their hands above their hearts  
While we play the game they fix)

_"He told me you wouldn't be a problem." Techno draws his netherite sword and aims it at Tommy's throat. "But I remember when you were just a brat from the Bay. TommyInnit never goes quietly."_

_Tommy's eyes prick with hot tears. "Blade..."_

_"It's nothing personal, little brother, it's just that my and Wilbur's goals align more than the two of ours do."_

_But Tommy's come a long way from the Bay. That brat would have struggled and screamed until someone made him stop. Now, Tommy knows when to turn tail and_ run.

_He throws himself right past the other man, adrenaline and fear carrying him deeper into the ravine. The one benefit of spending so much time as the hunted rather than hunter is that Tommy can flee with the best of them._

_He bursts down the escape tunnel Technoblade relentlessly mocked, ignoring the voice in his mind that screams_ you've been here before.

(And the ones who speak the words  
Always say it is the last)

Wilbur hums to himself as he prepares. It's a fun little ditty that once would have made Tommy smile. Now, it's the backing track to his newest nightmare.

_"Tommy, when I said you're never gonna be president, you gotta understand, that wasn't—that wasn't a challenge. That's true._ You're never gonna be president, Tommy. _And I can hear it in your voice. You're trying to sound like you know what you're doing so that you can prove me wrong. Tommy, none of us know what we're doing. We're fucked."_

He regrets that he had to leave Tommy behind. He loves the kid—or at least he thinks he used to—but he'd only get in the way with his oh-so-noble talk of morality and heroicism.

Tommy's young enough to still want to be the good guy, but Wilbur is wise enough to accept that sometimes you don't get to be the good guy.

And he's smart, maybe not Dream 1000 IQ smart, but he's always been a smart man. He knows that there's nothing left for him after this. He just doesn't care.

_"Tommy, I say if we can't have Manburg—NO ONE—NO ONE can have Manburg!"_

He tried war. That only worked out for them because Tommy is sentimental and Dream is even more so.

He tried politics. That got him to the bottom of a ravine, shattered and shamed.

Now, to try chaos. To try ripping it apart, burning it to soot, and scattering it to the winds.

There's a commotion outside. Techno says something about Schlatt and an intruder, but Wilbur pays it no mind.

Nothing— _nothing—_ is going to get in the way of his plans tonight.

_And no answer will be heard  
_ _To the question no one asks_

_So I'm asking if it's true  
I'm asking me and you_

_And you_

_And you_

(We stand and listen)

Antfrost watches the scene from behind the refreshments booth. He silently slips on his armor, pulling out potions hidden among sodas and arrows tucked between utensils. 

(We're standing with him)

In the grandstand, Purpled and HBomb exchange looks. They stand up. 

(We hear him.)

_For the first time in what feels like forever, Fundy dons a uniform he is proud to wear. The blue coat and tricorne hat fit with all the nostalgia of the melody of a long-forgotten song. It feels like coming home._

_I believe that we are many  
_ _I believe that they are few.  
_ _And it isn't for the few to tell the many what is true._

(We understand him.)

_Tubbo scrawls invisible codes on the back of personalized festival invitations._

Bring weapons and armor. Wait for the cue. We are excited to see you in attendance.

_So I ask you  
_ _If it's true what they say_  
_I'll be on my way  
_ _Tell me what to do_

"You know what George, I think I'll handle this one myself." Schlatt leans down, gripping the boy's chin to look him in the eyes. "Poor, poor Tommy. Betrayed by all his heroes at every turn. You think you would have learned by now. It's pretty much what you deserve, to be kneeling here alone."

"He's not alone." A voice comes from the crowd.

Nihachu strides forward, head tall and eyes burning. She undoes the clasp at her throat, cloak falling to revealing gleaming netherite.

Schlatt releases Tommy, steps back, and claps his hands. "Oh, great, this one again." He addresses Tommy. "My bad, kid, you've got the woman and the ass on your side. That's three whole people against my army."

She narrows her eyes. "It seems you've miscalculated, Schlatt."

Swords are drawn. Crossbows are loaded.

We're standing.

We're standing.

We're standing.

Callahan, Alyssa, Purpled, Sam, Antfrost, HBomb, and Jack step forward from the crowd, pointing weapons at Schlatt and his bodyguards. Eret and Fundy plant themselves at Niki's sides, equally armed and armored. Tubbo holds a hand out to Tommy.

_Is it true? Is it true what they say?_

On the 16th of October 2020, the people of L'Manburg rise up.

**Author's Note:**

> "He can destroy the walls. He can slaughter our friends, our family. But until the day we stop breathing and the moment the dream we have of a self-emancipated nation away from Dream SMP falls—it's the minute we let go of that dream—that's when he has won. Men, are you gonna let go of that dream? Then L'Manburg cannot fall." —Wilbur Soot


End file.
